Real Madrid’s Sami Khedira may be on his way to Arsenal but surely not for the wages reported

At the start of this week it was reported that Real Madrid’s Sami Khedira would become an Arsenal player ‘imminently.’ He would, the papers claimed, be joining on a four year deal which would see him net a cool £150k per week after tax. The key part there is ‘after tax.’

Arsenal’s newly-found spending power means that we can no longer dismiss rumours as easily as we were able to do so before. Spending over £40m on Mesut Ozil and around £30m on Alexis Sanchez means that when a bumper transfer fee comes up, it’s not quite so easy to say ‘Arsenal would never spend that.’ When a fee of £20m is mentioned for Khedira, who only has one year left on his Real Madrid contract, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Arsenal are interested and would be willing to spend that amount.

What hasn’t changed, however, is the strict wage structure at the club.

To pay Khedira the wages he is reportedly asking for would mean shattering that structure at the club. With Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez rumoured to be on between £130,000 and £150,000 per week, to give Khedira £150,000 per week after tax would mean handing him a gross weekly salary of around £260,000 per week. Gross indeed.

Doesn’t sound likely, does it?

Friends reunited? The German duo could both line up for Arsenal next season (Picture: Getty Images)

The Arsenal interest in the German midfielder does seem to be real but it’s interesting to watch the stories develop across the media. It seems as if some in the press have caught-on to the fact that Arsenal aren’t likely to fork out that sort of money on a player’s wage and are now saying that the deal is ‘at risk.’

I’d wager there is no risk. Those sort of demands from a player [if true] would be met with a flat-out ‘no’ from Arsenal.

There are other options out there and it is certainly not a case of saying ‘just pay him what he wants.’ That sort of salary would make him one of the highest earners in the world and open Arsenal up to demands from other players at the club for an increase which would shatter their wage structure completely and put the financial stability of the club at risk.

That’s not going to happen.

Of course, should Khedira decide to be a bit more realistic about his wages, there is every chance he could be teaming up with his good friend Mesut in red and white next season.

Until then, I wouldn’t go getting too excited about the whole thing just yet.